If you have diabetes due to your military service and notice vision issues, you may be experiencing diabetic retinopathy. Retinopathy is a condition that affects the eyes of people with diabetes. If left untreated, it can result in blindness. This post explains the VA disability rating for diabetic retinopathy.
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In this article about diabetic retinopathy VA disability rating
You were diagnosed with diabetes because of exposure to toxic chemicals while you were in the military. Now, something is wrong with your eyes. They seem to water nonstop, and you’re having difficulty seeing properly. You may be experiencing diabetic retinopathy. If so, you’ll want to know more about the VA disability rating for diabetic retinopathy to receive those benefits as well.
What is diabetic retinopathy?
Diabetic retinopathy is a condition that affects the eyes of people with diabetes. It is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the retina, which is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that sends visual signals to the brain.
When a person has diabetes, they have too much sugar in their blood. Over time, these high blood sugar levels can cause the blood vessels in the retina to get weak and leaky or to grow abnormally. This condition is called diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetic retinopathy symptoms include:
- Worsening vision
- Blurred or distorted vision
- Floaters like seeing spots, shapes, rings, or streaks
- Dark or empty spots in vision
- Difficulty seeing at night
- Patchy or blurry vision that makes it difficult to read or see objects that are far away
- Blindness
By controlling your diabetes through diet, exercise, and sticking to your health care provider’s treatment plan, you reduce your risk of developing diabetic retinopathy and other eye diseases.
Diabetic retinopathy can’t be cured. However, doctors can treat mild cases of retinopathy to reduce or delay vision loss if they catch the condition early. Advanced cases may require laser treatments or surgery. Treatment can prevent full vision loss.
If you’re already experiencing full vision loss, you can receive VA benefits for blindness.
VA rating for diabetic retinopathy
The VA rates diabetic retinopathy with diagnostic code 6040 in the Schedule of Ratings. The code calls for rating the condition under the General Formula for Diseases of the Eye. The VA rates diabetic retinopathy at 10%, 20%, 40%, or 60%, depending on the level of visual impairment or number of incapacitating episodes. In this case, incapacitating episodes would mean times when symptoms are severe enough to cause you to go seek treatment from a healthcare provider.
Service connecting diabetic retinopathy
Diabetes causes diabetic retinopathy. That means, to service connect diabetic retinopathy, you must service connect diabetes mellitus.
Veterans can receive VA benefits for either type of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes can be service connected if military service caused or aggravated the condition. Type 2 diabetes can be connected for these same reasons, but is also presumptive if you were exposed to certain pesticides during military service.
Once you connect diabetes to your military service, you can seek a secondary service connection for your diabetic retinopathy. You may also claim service connection for both these conditions at the same time.
A current diagnosis of an eye disorder or disease can help you receive compensation for this secondary condition.
A supporting medical opinion from a doctor describing how your eye condition is either a complication of or caused by diabetes mellitus may also help your argument. Your claim may be even stronger if the supporting statement comes from an ophthalmologist or endocrinologist. An eye test will also help determine the seriousness of your condition and support your claim.
Agent Orange and Diabetes mellitus type 2
Veterans may develop Type 2 diabetes from Agent Orange exposure. Agent Orange was a defoliant — a chemical used to remove leaves from trees and plants — used by the military in many locations beginning in the ‘60s. The military widely used Agent Orange in the Vietnam War.
Because of the link between Agent Orange exposure and diabetes, there is a presumptive service connection for qualifying veterans. This connection means that veterans who meet the criteria for presumption don’t need to show any additional evidence to establish a service connection. Because diabetes causes diabetic retinopathy, if you have service-connected diabetes, it should be a fairly straightforward process to show your diabetic retinopathy should also be service connected.
TDIU for diabetic retinopathy
Diabetes and diabetic retinopathy can interfere with your ability to work. Your issues with vision may affect your ability to sit and work on a computer just as much as they would affect your ability to work on a construction site. You may also be experiencing total or near total blindness from your condition. If any of those scenarios are true for you, you could qualify for total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) benefits.
To qualify for TDIU, you must have a service-connected disability rated at least 60% or more or have one disability rated at 40% or more with a combined rating of 70% or more. Therefore, a diabetes rating alone or a diabetes rating with diabetic retinopathy as a secondary condition could qualify you for this benefit.
Your diabetes and diabetic retinopathy may also qualify as a “single disability” for TDIU purposes under VA regulations.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, diabetic retinopathy can be a service-related condition. Diabetes causes retinopathy, which means if you have service-connected diabetes, this condition may be secondarily connected and eligible for compensation.
The VA disability rating for eye conditions depends on how bad the vision impairment is or how often you have to seek professional treatment for it. It can be rated at 10%, 20%, 40%, or 60%, depending on the severity. VA pays higher rates of compensation for the loss of use of organs and senses, like blindness.
Neil Woods
Neil Woods is a VA disability attorney and the owner and president of Woods & Woods. He received his law degree from Western Michigan University.
